E3S Web of Conferences 156, 03008 (2020) https://doi.org/10.

1051/e3sconf/202015603008
4 th ICEEDM 2019

Risk analysis of seismic bridge damage: case study after

Lombok and Palu earthquake
Risma Putra1,*, and Winarputro Adi Riyono1
1Institute of Road Engineering, Agency of Research and Development, Ministry of Public Works Republic of Indonesia

Abstract. Indonesia is known as an earthquake-prone region, lies in the ring of fire zone. This
potential hazard can impact several infrastructures, including bridges. Seismic bridge damages
could possibly disrupt traffic flow furthermore cut off the regional connectivity. In this study, risk
analysis is carried out on several bridges after Lombok and Palu earthquake. Visual inspection has
been undertaken on 38 bridges on-site, and several damages identification are reported. Risk
analysis was then carried out according to the severity of element damages and the frequency of
occurrence. From the analysis, it is concluded that embankment settlement in the approach road is
found to be the most potential element with the highest risk of damage due to earthquakes.
Besides, the superstructure displacement and crack in the wing wall are at moderate risk. This
finding makes the substructure become the most vulnerable element which needs more attention.
Therefore, it is recommended to specify a higher design specification for substructure to mitigate
seismic bridge damages, especially for bridges located in the high seismic zone area.

1 Introduction Estimating earthquake damage is not an exact science

Indonesia is considered as the biggest archipelago, which
has a risk of natural disasters (i.e., earthquake). This fact
makes bridges have an important key at road network
infrastructures. Currently, there are 23.371 bridges in
national road networks, with around 100 categorized as
individual bridges. According to the BMS database
2017, approximately 43 % of bridges have age more than
50 years old. Therefore, maintenance of existing bridges
is a crucial issue, as well as the development of new
infrastructures. If the earthquake and landslide are
tended to occur frequently, more bridges will be further
at risk of damage and disrupt the importance of road
connectivity. Indonesia has established some codes,
standards, guidelines, and manuals for bridge design,
inspection, and maintenance, which are already included
in the Bridge Management System 1992 [1].
Geographically and geologically, Indonesia lies in a
region that is vulnerable to natural disasters, and
therefore it is prone to natural and man-made calamities.
Many types of disasters, including earthquakes, tsunami,
volcanoes, floods, landslides, river scouring, have
frequently occurred in recent times in most of the
country. Earthquake and volcanic zones are found in
most parts of the country, beginning from the northern
tip of Sumatra to the north part of Papua. A series of
recent earthquakes have devastated the country. Lack of
emergency management leads to financial and moral
losses. On the other hand, technological and human-
induced disasters are the results of the human impact,
negligence, human error, and system failure [2].
and depends on several factors. An earthquake can be
quantified by the probability of ground motion occurring
in a particular area. It is also possibly described from the
consequences of the ground motion, which are primarily
a function of construction type and the level of ground
motion and shaking during the actual event [3]. The 12
MMI scales indicate the impact that occurs on the
surface of the earthquake-induced earth, as described in
Table 1. Those criteria are useful for the description of
the severity of the earthquake. Generally, earthquake is
related to the energy released produced from a sudden or
violent shaking of the ground as a result of the earth's
crust movement or volcanic action [4]. The seismic
events cause several damaged bridges to require
immediate repair. According to the latest data issued by
Meteorology Climatology and Geophysics Agency
(BMKG) in 2018, there are at least 11.577 times
earthquake recorded in Indonesia. One of earthquake
event occurred in Lombok and Palu.
One of several methods to mitigate earthquake risk is
by performing seismic risk analysis. In this paper, risk
analysis is carried out based on the field inspection data
on several bridges after Lombok and Palu earthquake,
which occurred in 2018. In the first part, the description
of Lombok and Palu earthquake are explained briefly.
Then, risk assessment is undertaken according to the
severity of the bridge damage and the frequency of
occurrence. Finally, a recommendation is proposed for
seismic bridge mitigation.

*
Corresponding author: risma.putra@pusjatan.pu.go.id

© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
E3S Web of Conferences 156, 03008 (2020) https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202015603008
4 th ICEEDM 2019

Table 1. Earthquake intensity in MMI and the corresponding description [5].

Intensity Simple description Detailed description MMI Scale PGA (gal)

I Not felt Not felt or felt by a few people but recorded by a I-II < 2.9
tool.

Feeled by many people but does not cause

II Felt damage. Light hanging objects moved and the III-V 2.9-88
glass vibrating.

Non-structural parts of the structures

III Slightly damage experienced minor damage, such as hair cracks VI 89-167
in the walls, roof tiles sliding down and some
falling element.

Many cracks occur in the walls of structures,

partial collapse, broken glass. Some of the wall
IV Moderate damage plaster is exfoliated . Most of the tiles shift down VII-VIII 168-564
or fall. The building structure has mild to
moderate damage.

Most of the walls of the permanent structures

V Heavily damage IX-XII >564
collapsed. The structures experienced heavy
damage. Railway become excessive deformation

2 Lombok and Palu earthquake

2.2 Palu earthquake

2.1 Lombok earthquake
Lombok earthquake occurred on August 19, 2018, at a
relatively shallow depth of 10 km [6]. The Lombok
earthquake consisted of several earthquake peaks,
namely M 6.4, M 7.0, and M 6.9, respectively, in
different time periods. Some of the damages include the
subsidence of embankment near the bridge (Fig.1),
cracking in the retaining structures, damage at expansion
joint (Fig.2), and the excessive displacement of the
bridge superstructure.
Fig. 1. Subsidence of embankment near the Tampes bridge [7]
The settlement causes the access disruption at the
bridge location. The truck carrying gasoline and logistics
was difficult to reach the affected area. This makes a
serious problem to accelerate the recovery process after a
seismic event.
The earthquake in Palu was occurred on September 28,
2018, with a magnitude of M 7.7. It was accompanied by
a tsunami that swept through the western islands of
Sulawesi. Based on BMKG data, the depth of the
epicenter is 10 km, with a distance of about 26 km from
North Donggala, Central Sulawesi. The observed bridge
damage includes landfill subsidence, cracks in the
retaining walls, destruction at expansion joint, excessive
displacement of the superstructures (Fig.3), and
settlement of the foundation (Fig.4).
3 Risk analysis method
The study was conducted by visually inspecting the
condition of the existing bridge to see the level of
damage caused by the earthquake. Damage that occurs is
then evaluated to determine the effect of the earthquake
on bridge elements. The number of bridges that were
observed was taken by a random sampling method. The
objects are the bridge located on the national road
section in West Nusa Tenggara and Central Sulawesi,
which are two provinces in the Central Region of
Indonesia that were affected by a major earthquake in
2018. Based on the results of the field survey, there are
27 bridges damaged in the West Nusa Tenggara.
Whereas, for the Central Sulawesi National road, there
are 11 damaged bridges. From the visual inspection
results, a matrix of damaged bridge elements and the risk
of bridge damage due to the earthquake was compiled.

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Fig. 2. Damage at the expansion joint in LUK bridge [7]
Fig. 3. Excessive superstructure displacement in Batusuya
bridges [8]
Fig. 4. Settlement of pier foundation in Tompe bridge [8]
The level of risk of damage that occurs on the bridge
element is dependent on the earthquake scale that
occurred in the field. The risk of damage can also be
estimated based on historical data. In this study, the level
of risk is set to depend on two factors, the frequency of
occurrence and the severity of bridge conditions. The
rate of existence is the number of occurrences of bridge
elements that have been damaged. Such damage can be
in the form of an excessive foundation settlement,
excessive displacement, corrosion of elements, or other
damage. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the
4 Results and discussion
There are 10 (ten) types of damage observed on the
existing bridges during the field survey, as shown in Fig.
5. Those include damage of expansion joint, settlement
of the landfill, damage of retaining walls, excessive
displacement of the upper structure, sliding of the
support, cracks in the abutment, damage at seismic
restrainers, foundation settlement, and cracks at bridge
piers.
According to Fig. 5, damage to the expansion joint is
the most often damages that occur on the bridges. This
type of damage is caused by the movement of the upper
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https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202015603008
frequency criteria and condition value criteria to get the
risk value. Table 2 shows the criteria for the frequency
of events at each inspection. These criteria are
determined based on the number of bridges examined in
the field. If the frequency of events is close to the
number of bridges being examined, it can be inferred
that the frequency of events is "very often". Whereas, if
the frequency of occurrence is around 50% of the
number of bridges examined, it can be considered that
the frequency of events is "moderate".
Tabel 2 Frequency criteria
Frequency Frequency criteria I
ndex
Very rare <= 5 event/inspection 1
Rare 5 - 10 event/inspection 2
Moderate 10 - 15 event/inspection 3
Often 15 - 20 event/inspection 4
Very often >20 event/inspection 5
The more event number are observed, the more risk
are possible to exist. For the determination of the bridge
damage criteria, it is conducted based on the bridge
inspection guidelines using Condition Value criteria, as
shown in Table 3. Damage criteria for bridge elements
are determined following bridge inspection guidelines
based on the Bridge Management System, as shown in
Table 3. For each type of condition value, it is necessary
to determine the follow-up action required. For example,
bridges with minor damage, then countermeasures are
possible by performing routine maintenance. For bridges
with heavy damage, major repairs or bridge
strengthening should be undertaken if necessary. After
the occurrence frequency and condition value are
obtained, the risk level of bridge damage can be
determined by multiplying the frequency with the
condition value. A risk matrix is then generated for each
type of damage that occurs in the bridge elements, as
shown in Table 4. The corresponding risk criteria are
shown in Table 5. According to the risk matrix, the
bridge with a vulnerability rating of less than 3 is
considered to have negligible attention. On the contrary,
the bridge with a vulnerability rating of more than 20
need to be seriously assessed for seismic performance.
structure due to the earthquake, causing damage such as
cracks, differential settlement, and gap opening. The
effect of damage to the bridge is relatively negligible
because the joint expansion act as a complementary
element to accommodate bridge deformation and not act
as the load-carrying capacity element.
The second frequent damages are the settlement of
embankment, which occurs due to the process of soil
compaction during an earthquake event. It can also
occured due to the presence of cracking or breaking in
the retaining walls. The event probability of
embankment settlement is relatively high, and the effect
of damage to the embankment on the bridge structure is
quite significant.
E3S Web of Conferences 156, 03008 (2020) https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202015603008
4 th ICEEDM 2019

Tabel 3. Damage criteria and countermeasure [1]

Condition Remarks Index Countermeasure

value (NK)
NK1 Lightly 1 Routine Maintenace and
damage Monitoring
NK2 Medium 2 Minor Rehabilitation
damage
NK3 Heavy 3 Major Rehabilitation/Strengthening
damage
NK4 Critical 4 Bridge Element Replacement
NK5 Collapse 5 Reconstruction

Table 4. Risk matrix

Damage Condition value

Index N N N N N
K1 K2 K3 K4 K5
Very rare 1 1 2 3 4 5
Rare 2 2 4 6 8 1
Frequency

0
Moderate 3 3 6 9 1 1
2 5
Often 4 4 8 1 1 2
2 6 0
Very often 5 5 1 1 2 2
0 5 0 5
risk = frequency x condition value

Table 5.Risk criteria

Risk Vulnerability
rating
Low <3
Moderate 3-9
High 9 - 20
Very high >20

The earth retaining wall elements that are prone to
have damages are those made from masonry or brick
elements. The bond strength between the stone or brick
are not strong enough to withstand the seismic load.
Also, there is a significant movement of soil around the
retaining wall, which causes excessive force, which is
also one of the causes of damage to the retaining walls.
The superstructures of floor elements, girder, frame,
and placement is one of the main structural components
of the bridge. These elements can experience movement
due to earthquake, especially bridge support. The central
issues are to limit the seismic energy entering the
structure from the ground in the first place and then to
dissipate as much of it as possible by damping devices.
The seismic damage impact can be reduced by using a
particular device to absorb seismic forces. By decoupling
the structure from seismic ground motions, it is possible
to minimize the earthquake-induced forces in it, that can
be done in two ways. Firstly, increase the natural period
of the structure by base isolation and, secondly, increase
the damping of the system by energy-dissipating device
as proposed by Tandon [9].
Fig. 6 shows the results of the risk analysis of
damaged bridges in Palu and Lombok. It is concluded
that the settlement of embankment in the approach road
is found to be the most potential element with the highest
risk of damage due to earthquakes. In addition, the
excessive superstructure displacement and crack in the
retaining walls are at moderate risk.

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Support Displacement
Damage of Seismic Restrainers
Damage at Expansion joint
Crack at The Pier
Crack at Abutment
Foundation Settlement
Superstructure Displacement
Crack at Wing Wall
Crack at Retaining Wall
Settlement of Embankment

0 5 10 15 20 25
Fig. 5. Statistics of bridge element damage observed after Lombok and Palu earthquake [7,8]
12

10
9
Risk index

6 6

4 4
3 3
2

Settlement of Damage at Crack at Support Superstructure Foundation Crack at Damage of Crack at the Crack at the
embankment expansion retaining wall displacement displacement settlement abutment seismic pier wing wall
joint restrainers

Element damage type

High Moderate Low

Fig. 6. Risk distribution after Lombok and Palu earthquake

5 Conclusion 2. Kaya H., Disaster management and disaster

preparedness: Examples of Practice in California
Based on the results of the risk analysis, the type of and Turkey (2015)
damage of bridge element with the highest risk to 3. Folger, Earthquakes: Risk, Detection, Warning, and
earthquake events is the settlement of embankment. Research. Congressional Research Service (2013)
While the lowest risk value is the damage of the wing 4. Mustafa Nur, Jurnal Geografi 7 No 1, (2010)
wall. In addition, the excessive superstructure https://journal.unnes.ac.id/nju/index.php/JG/article/v
displacement and crack in the retaining walls are at iew/92/93
moderate risk. This finding makes the substructure 5. BMKG, Gempa Bumi, Skala MMI
become the most vulnerable element that need more https://www.bmkg.go.id/gempabumi/skala
attention. Therefore, it is recommended to specify a mmi.bmkg (2018)
higher design specification for sub-structure, particularly 6. Pusgen, Press release
in high seismic zone areas like Lombok and Palu. https://www.bmkg.go.id/press-release/?p=gempa-
susulan-m6-5-kembali-guncang-pulau-lombok-
This work was supported by the Institute of Road
tidak-berpotensi-tsunami&tag=press-
Engineering (IRE) Ministry of Public Works, Republic of
Indonesia. The authors would like to expresses their gratitude
release&lang=ID (2018)
for the financial support from the IRE. 7. Pusjatan, Pemeriksaan Jembatan Pasca Gempa
Lombok, Institute of Road Engineering. (2018)
References 8. Tandon, M., Economical Design Of
Earthquake-Resistant Bridge. (2005)
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pemeriksaan jembatan”. Bina Marga